Football Road Trip Report: Los Baños for the Suzuki PFF U23 title

I found myself at the Philippine Football Federation Pasig office at 8:30 am this Monday morning with Ebong Joson and a bunch of other sportswriters. Our mission: to get to the press con of the PFF-Suzuki Men's National U23 Championship in far-off Los Baños, Laguna.

Ebong brought his car, a vintage Beetle retrofitted with a chilly aircon.

My ride was my seven-year old hatchback, whose aircon had tapped out last week. These two vehicles formed our little convoy.

The writers at PFF, Jonas Terrado, Olmin Leyba, Mark Escarlote, and Karlo Sacamos were given a choice: legroom or aircon.

Jonas, Olmin and Mark chose chilled air and folded themselves into the Bug while Karlo, late coming out of the PFF, was relegated to the steam room of my subcompact.

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We pass by for Cedelf Tupas on C5 and scurry off to Los Baños.

After getting off on the Calamba exit, the lead car, Ebong, ducks into a tiny road off the highway.

“Are you sure you know where you're going?” I ask over the cell phone.

“I'm using GPS, this is a shortcut” he retorts.

Half an hour later we've made it to our press con destination: Bonitos Bar and Restaurant.

* * *

Suzuki Philippines President Satoshi Uchida presides and announces that “through this tournament we are developing a new generation of Azkals.”

Uchida says this is the third year in a row that the Japanese motor giant has supported the tournament.

The PFF-Suzuki U23 championship features teams from all the Football Associations scattered throughout the archipelago. The cast has been whittled down to ten clubs after more than 100 games dating back to last year.

In the Luzon sector, it's Masbate, Laguna, and Baguio-Benguet who comprise the top three. They will play in a double round-robin from April 8 to 13 in UP Los Baños. (Apparently Masbate is part of the Bicol region.)

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The Visayas regionals sees former champs Negros Occidental, Iloilo, and Cebu doing battle from April 15 to 20 in San Carlos City.

Mindanao has its regional in Davao City from April 22 to 27. North Cotabato, Iligan-Lanao Del Norte, Davao, and Zamboanga-Dipolog will duke it out.

The top two clubs from the regionals will probably then converge in Cebu from May 20 to 25 (the venue isn't quite finalized yet) for the Final qualifying round. In that stage the six clubs will be split into two round-robin groups. Teams cannot face their regional neighbors at this stage.

The top two from each group go through to the crossover semifinals, also slated for Cebu, from May 27 to 28, then the finals will be played from May 30 to 31 in Cebu as well.

As of the moment it is not yet known if the Aboitiz field or Abellana field will host these matches.

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The semis and final will be two-legged aggregate-goals affairs, and according to Cyril Dofitas, the PFF Competitions Department Head, the Away Goals rule will be employed, even though the only team that can truly play at home is Cebu.

One team will be assigned as the home team and the opponent as the away team for each game. Should scores be level after 180 minutes of play, the away-goals is the first tiebreaker.

And no, there will be no repeat of the infamous 2011 final, where confused match officials played extra time after the first leg finished in a draw between Negros Occidental and Iloilo.

I'd like the Away-goals rule to be set aside for this tournament since there is either no home team ( if Cebu doesn't qualify for the semis or final) or one home team for both legs (if Cebu makes it.) If it were up to me, I'd have extra time after the second leg if teams are still at parity.

I'd hate to see a team win on away-goals. It would be like winning on a technicality, and I could see a lot of debate and controversy if it were to happen.

No doubt Iloilo and Negros Occidental will be the favorites again. But, according to Ake Pastoral, Masbate is confident since many of their players are playing collegiate ball in Manila.

Baguio-Benguet features Joseph Lingwayon, who I saw in action against General Trias International in the SMART-PFF Club Championship in Baguio.

The tournament will help build the squad for the U23 team in the SEA Games in Myanmar. Scouts from PFF's technical committee will give recommendations to the National Team committee.

* * *

Lunch at Bonitos was delicious. The herbed chicken and Batangas kaldereta were sublime, and are highly recommended.

I chatted with Arvin Soliman, the Green Archers United Globe defender and Los Baños native who will help Enrique Padilla coach the Laguna team.

Soliman is the same batch as fellow Los Baños boy Jay Eusebio, who plies his trade with Pachanga-Diliman.

I also had a brief chat with Allan Payson, who is the tournament director for the Luzon regional. Under his coaching the 2011 Laguna team stunned Iloilo 1-0 in the final qualifying round, only to lose to a National Capital Region team that was bolstered by, ironically, Jay Eusebio.

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Eusebio was forbidden from Payson from playing for Laguna because he was nursing a broken clavicle sustained in UAAP play. So instead the winger played for NCR.

Payson studied Football coaching in Brazil with the likes of Ompong Merida and Graeme MacKinnon.

Apparently Los Baños is a regional center for Football. Payson proudly states that teams like the Azkals and Global FC have held camps there, attracted by UPLB's good pitches and reasonably-priced dorm housing.

After the lunch our party makes the short drive into the campus to inspect the fields. UPLB is gorgeous, with quaint yet clean buildings, lots of greenery, and plenty of mature trees.

The lower and upper fields seem to be in great shape, with lush native grass, although the lower field looks a tad bit small (there's a ridged grass track around it). There is even a third field elsewhere.

Payson leads us to a shortcut to the main highway through the Jamboree road, where the Boy Scouts of the Philippines has a facility.

The Jamboree Road is twisty sliver of asphalt that snakes through the Mt. Makiling foothills. The scenery is breathtaking.

Ebong pilots the creaky Beetle as if it were a rally car, and we struggle to cope.

Minutes later we're back on the highway, Manila bound, with Karlo dozing off in the driver's seat.

Football, food, fresh air, and friends old and new. Pretty good formula for a Monday.

Follow Bob on Twitter @bhobg333.